Don't evade antitrust review, Beijing warns operator of key Panama Canal ports

BEIJING: China's top market regulator said on Sunday it was paying close attention to CK Hutchison's planned sale of most of its ports operations to a BlackRock-led consortium and parties to the deal should not try to avoid an antitrust review.

The sale by the Hong Kong conglomerate, which contains two ports along the strategically important Panama Canal, has become highly politicised amid intensifying U.S.-Sino trade tensions.

"No concentration of undertakings shall be implemented without approval, otherwise legal liability will be incurred," the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement.

The statement was in response to a Wall Street Journal article on April 16. The MSC shipping empire, which is part of the BlackRock consortium, has held discussions on moving ahead with the bulk of the deal while disputes over the two Panama ports are resolved, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The deal has two components with different ownership structures - one for the Panama ports and one for everything else, the report added.